Last recap post of 2011! The Vacation Reads challenge was a fun one. Reading stories set in other locations is always a good "trip" and I even enjoyed mentioning why I would want to visit. Here's what I read:

As you may have guessed from my In My Mailbox posts, I review for two other websites (bookloons.com and bittenbybooks.com). As I cannot post my reviews there and here, but I would still like to count the books I read for the challenges, I am going to have a post like this at the end of the every month listing the books I reviewed and what challenges the went towards.

Friday, December 30, 2011

Thoughts: This was so cute! I normally avoid animal stories, but I thought this one might be happy, and I was right. It's a sweet romance, but what really makes the story is Ambrose, the cat. The parts from his point of view are priceless!

Reading Challenge has been around for 1 year! It's been fun and I never thought that at the end of the year, I would have so many followers. Therefore, I'm having a little giveaway. Since this is my 1st blogoversary, there will be 1 winner, and that winner will get a book of choice $10 or under from The Book Depository. The only rules are you must be a follower (this is to thank them afterall), and TBD must ship free to your country. To enter, fill out the Rafflecopter below:

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Thoughts: It took me longer than normal to get into Alice the 101st, but by the last chapter of this volume, I really did like it. By that point, the characters were really coming into their own, and that made me want to continue with the series.

Another mini challenge that I really loved was the All-Male Review. The challenge was to read 1 book written by a male author or with a male protagonist within the month of May, and I managed 3. I do wish it were a little longer and with different levels, but I will definitely be participating again. Here's what I read:

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Thoughts: I know everyone seems to love this book, but I just found it so-so. The first 200 pages or so were so slow, as were the last 100. Also, I did not really care for Lisbeth. What I did like was the mystery of Harriet's disappearance, and those parts of the book read fast and did somewhat make up for the slow parts.

The YA LGBT Paranormal Challenge was another mini challenge that I really enjoyed. I had only done the Just Curious level (1 book) because there really are not too many books out that that fit into this category. I would like to find a more generic YA LGBT challenge for next year. Here's the book I read:

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

I love fairytales and books based on them, so I was very excited to join the Once Upon a Time Challenge. I only did the lowest level of The Journey (1 book), but I know I would do longer if it was a year-long challenged. Here's what I read:

Monday, December 26, 2011

One of the mini-challenges that I struggled with was the Cozy Mystery Challenge. While I do have plenty of cozies on my shelf, most of what I read this year was for review and I simply do not get to review many cozies. I did manage to read 2, though, in the allot 6-month period:

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Aside from year-long challenges, I also participated in a couple of mini challenges. One of my favorites was the Mini-Challenge. Why it did not have a creative name, it had a creative theme - four books, each corresponding to a line in the old wedding rhyme: "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue." This was a very one one to complete and here is what I read:

I knew the Chinese Literature Challenge would be a challenge, but I am glad I did it and would do it again. I do like to diversify my reading, and this is a part of the world I do not read too much about. I did not have any books by Chinese authors from China on my shelf, but I was glad that books set in China also counted. I signed up for the Merchant level (1-3 books), and I did manage 1:

Friday, December 23, 2011

The Chunkster Challenge proved way harder than I thought. The reason? YA books didn't count. I have read a ton of those that were over 500 pages, but so far, only 1 adult book (although I am almost finished with another). Needless to say, I didn't come close to reaching the level of Chubby Chunkster (4 books) Here's what I did manage:

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Yesterday I recapped the challenge I did the worst on; today, I talk about the best. Yes, for the Fantasy Challenge, I did only go with the lowest level of Curious (3 books), but I surpassed that a few times over. I am definitely doing this one again and going up a level. Here are the 3 I read:

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Thoughts: This is a fun and crazy manga, but I am not really sure what I think of it. The humor was good but I had a hard time telling the Shikigama (little animal-like thingies) apart. Also, I cannot tell if it is shojo or shonen - strong female heroine but the rest seemed closer to shonen.Rating: 3 stars

Thoughts: This was a rather uneven read. The concept was very original and it actually read like a series of Saturday morning cartoon episodes, which was fun. It was also filled with puns and other jokes that left me chuckling, but also left me wondering if the younger readers for which this was intended would get it. And then there were some plot points that seemed to take giant leaps that I couldn't follow. The twist at the end was great, though. However, as this is the first in the Toonopolis Files, I am not really sure where the next book would go given the ending.Rating: 3 stars

I love Oscar Wilde, but I didn't read any this year :( I know I will read at least one next year, so maybe I will try again. Not only was the Wilde Challenge a fail, it was an epic fail! See, here's my list of nothing:

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

It's time for the holidays and another giveaway hop! Since it is the time for giving, I will be giving away three ecopies of Everblossom: A Short Story and Poetry Anthology by Larissa Hinton. This is a wonderful collection of stories and poems that run the gambit of emotions and really make you think. I will be gifting these from Amazon, so this giveaway is open to anyone who can receive Kindle ebooks. To enter, just fill out the FORM (and you can follow me via GFC and/or Goodreads for an extra point each), then be sure to check out the rest of the giveaways.

Thoughts: I am not one for Science books, but I do love music, so I thought I would give this a try. Levitin does a wonderful job of explaining both music and the brain for the lay reader. Very in-depth and informative, but still very readable and enjoyable.Rating: 4 stars

I knew the Vampire Challenge would be hard, but I didn't think it was impossible. I thought I read close to 20 vampire books a year, but in actually, I only managed 5. I think I'll stick with challenges that encompass a wider variety of supes. Here's what I read:

Monday, December 19, 2011

Even though I didn't meet the goal of 12, I loved the Show Me the Free Challenge. I was not sure if free meant just those downloaded for free or if ebook that were won also counted. If they did, I would have almost completed this challenge. I'll definitely participate again next year (the challenge is being renamed Why Buy the Cow), and here is what I read this year:

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Thoughts: Svetlana Chmakova has got to be one of my favorite English-language manga-kas. Her work is so much fun with a style that is all her own! In the second installment of Nightschool, the mystery just keeps getting deeper and we learn a little more about all of the characters and the school itself. I cannot wait to read volume 3.
Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer

All opinions expressed on this blog are those of the reviewer and not necessarily of Reading Challenged. No compensation has been provided for any review. Unless otherwise noted, all book cover images were taken from Goodreads.